核燃料中間貯蔵で共用案　電力業界団体、関電の再稼働支援

　青森県むつ市にある使用済み核燃料を一時保管する中間貯蔵施設について、電力各社が加盟する電気事業連合会（電事連）が原発を持つ各社で共同利用する案を検討していることが１０日、分かった。老朽原発の再稼働をめぐり福井県から中間貯蔵施設の県外候補地を示すよう求められている関西電力を支援する狙いがある。
　むつ市の施設は、東京電力ホールディングスと日本原子力発電が共同出資する「リサイクル燃料貯蔵（ＲＦＳ）」が運営し、来年度の操業を目指している。関係者によると、電事連は２社以外でも利用料を払うことなどで中間貯蔵施設として利用できるよう東電などと協議している。
　共用案浮上には、関電救済の意味合いがある。関電の原発が立地する福井県は、関電に中間貯蔵施設の県外候補地を年内に示すよう求めている。候補地明示は運転開始から４０年を超える高浜１、２号機（高浜町）や美浜３号機（美浜町）の再稼働の是非を判断する前提で、原発依存度の高い関電にとって早期の候補地選定が課題となっている。（2020/12/10-20:08）

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan is considering a plan for member power suppliers that have nuclear power plants to jointly use a temporary storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the city of Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, it was learned Thursday.
   The Mutsu facility is held by Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co., which is jointly owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and Japan Atomic Power Co. Recyclable-Fuel Storage aims to launch the facility's operations in fiscal 2021, which starts next April.
   The federation is in talks with parties including TEPCO on allowing power firms other than TEPCO and Japan Atomic Power as well to use the temporary spent fuel storage facility if they pay fees, informed sources said.
   The joint use initiative is partly aimed at supporting Kansai Electric Power Co. , according to the sources. The Fukui prefectural government is urging Kansai Electric, which has nuclear plants in the central Japan prefecture, to show by the end of this year a candidate site outside of the prefecture for temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel.
   Selecting a candidate location early is a key challenge for Kansai Electric, which heavily relies on nuclear power generation, because it is a condition for local authorities to decide whether to approve the restart of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the firm's Takahama nuclear plant and the No. 3 reactor at its Mihama plant, all of which have seen more than 40 years pass since the launch of their operations.